the chocolate museum

After many long years of wishing and praying, soft whispering and hoping, the Turin chocolate museum finally opened and with Alex Futter - a long time friend - we went to take a look for you!

Bridgerton vibes at the chocolate museum too

Turin's July 4th

The 4th of July is just around the corner but Turin has just had her own summer celebrations and in BIG style 🎆

Turin City Hall

il sole tra la nebbia

Tra le giornate buie, uggiose e nebbiose, quando il sole pallido traspare dalle nuvole ci porta grande gioia, la stessa che vogliamo portare a tutti gli amanti di Torino, del Piemonte, della lingua e della cultura italiana a cui questo racconto è dedicato.

Bicerin: history, coffee, chocolate

A visit to Turin without stopping by Al Bicerin for a bicerin - Turin staple coffee drink - or a hot or cold chocolate wouldn't be complete!

For this 8th edition of Turin Epicurean Capital we met with Mr Alberto Landi, president of the association Locali Storici d'Italia or Italian Historical Italian Businesses and also owner and current manager of the oldest coffee house in Turin and it nearby chocolate shop.

il cassetto delle caramelle

Amici cari, ci siamo!! Gennaio col suo freddo e gli elfi sono partiti e siamo pronti per Febbraio, le bugie, i costumi di carnevale e i cioccolatini di San Valentino 🌹

A Turin reverie

As of today many schools in Turin have resumed their classes before the official date of September 14th. Many Italians are back from their August vacations mostly in Italy and very few in other European countries. The temperatures have slowly been dropping but last Saturday we were still in the full of the summer with our 30C/86F and the sweat dripping down our backs as we were walking downtown.

Gianduia = Turin

Gianduia

Everybody knows Gianduia as the Turin's chocolate, but what does this name mean and who is Gianduia?

As we are approaching the Mardi Gras celebrations that closes the Carnival season in Italy, we felt the need to put all the puzzle pieces together: chocolates, Brachetto wine, Mardi Gras and Commedia dell'Arte 😎

Back in the Middle Ages, before actors where professionals, there were groups of people who impersonated characters and stereotypes and acted in the Italian piazzas. As there was no script, they usually improvised and took advantage of the regional dialects to add color to their interpretations.
This is very shortly how each Italian town got to be symbolized by a theatrical character who summed up in him or her the ways of his or her city.

Certainly, back in the 1200 - 1700, politically correctness wasn't an issue and little by little shows were organized where all these 'characters' acted together amplifying their own local stereotypes. Naturally these plays were funny, they were comedies and because they reflected the core of the Italian culture - at a time when Italy was still divided into many tiny kingdoms, republics, states - this is what came to be called Commedia dell'Arte - the true Italian essence of the art of the comedy.